Eurovision 2013: 10 of the best moments from the final

Andrius Poljavis from Lithuania, possessor of the finest eyebrows in Eurovision history (Picture: Getty Images)

Eurovision 2013 had more than its fair share of highlights -not to mention lowlights…

So it’s all over for another year as Denmark bask in their Eurovision glory, Ireland prop up the bottom end of the scoreboard and somewhere in between Bonnie Tyler realises that all things considered, it could have gone a lot worse.

And once again it was a memorable contest, with more than its fair share of wacky moments, weird moments and, just occasionally, a genuinely decent song thrown in. Here’s our pick of the evening’s highlights:

The mysterious Lithuanian Eyebrow Activity

We’ll be honest, we weren’t really listening to Lithuania’s song. We were too busy watching Andrius Pojavis’ eyebrows as he performed his offbeat indie pop tune. Alex Mills from The Apprentice, you have competition in the facial hair department.

Cezar hits the heights

Romania’s Cezar was always going to be a major talking point on the night, and sure enough he almost stole the show with his high-pitched vocal during song It’s My Life. We’re not sure which bit we liked best – the semi-naked dancers emerging from underneath a giant crimson curtain, the Flash Gordon-esque get-up or the bit when, just when you were certain he couldn’t sing any higher, he actually went and did it.

Carola falls off the stage

OK, so the interval act was way too long, clearly a bit too Swedish for us to understand and oddly unfunny to anybody south of Stockholm. However we couldn’t help but snort at that moment when former winner Carola – who has entered the contest for them three times – took to the stage, began singing a medley of her hits and promptly fell off. Slapstick, works every time.

It could have been because the contest overran so long (well whose idea was it to have quite so much in the way of interval entertainment exactly?) but at the moment when it became apparent Denmark had won, host Petra Mede announced their victory and Emmelie de Forest began making her way to the stage – only for it to become apparent there were still four countries left to announce their votes. Cut to the jury man from Cyprus looking a bit lost and puzzled…

Bonnie does her bit

It might not have brought home the gold for the UK, but we have to admit Bonnie Tyler’s performance was certainly one of the best looking ones we’ve fielded in years. No silly dancers, fireworks, people dressed as airline pilots or rubbish choreography. Just Bonnie on a podium in the middle of the arena, illuminated by a sea of lit-up bracelets. You go girl.

Norway. Just that, really

In the midst of all the nonsense songs, ridiculous lyrics (‘Hold me just unfold me?’ Azerbaijan, what were you THINKING?) and general mayhem, the genuinely good songs shone out from the pack. We particularly liked Norway’s Margaret Berger, who delivered a spot-on performance of her song I Feed You My Love – mean, moody and utterly credible. She could have a hit with that tomorrow and much of the world wouldn’t even realise it was a Eurovision entry.

Quite why Ukraine’s Zlata Ognevich felt the need to be carried on stage by a seven foot giant in what looked like Viking gear, we have no idea. It did provide one of the comedy high points of the evening however as the straight-faced gent lumbered on, looking at one point like he was about to tumble over and drop her. Now that could have made things interesting.

Finland kisses a girl

She said she was going to do it – and indeed Finland’s Krista Siegfrids made her stance against the country’s gay marriage ban by kissing a woman at the end of her song Marry Me. The only trouble being she had already done it in the semi-final. And the dress rehearsal. And the rehearsal before that. And possibly the one before that, for that matter. So we’d kind of seen it all before by the time it actually happened.Which might explain how she ended up getting even fewer points than the UK…

Ukraine. There has to be a rational explanation for this. (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Greece’s answer to Madness

Forget all those ballads, our favourite performance of the night came from Greece’s Koza Mostra, who wore kilts and jumped around the stage like lunatics and attempted to convince us all that ‘alcohol is free’. Honestly, what was not to like? And while we’re at it, how exactly did they fail to win?

12 points go to our friends…..’

OK, so we like to maintain that it’s not so much political voting as cultural voting – nonetheless there was a crushing inevitability about Romania giving Moldova 12, Netherlands and Belgium exchanging ‘douze points’, and that touching moment when the UK scored more points from Ireland than any other country (thanks Nicky Byrne!). Not that there weren’t some oddities on the night – only four points to Italy from San Marino? Moldova only giving Romania 10? The UK not exactly extending the hand of generosity towards Ireland (we gave them one point, to be precise)? Still, at least Cyprus gave the Greeks 12 points so perhaps we shouldn’t be too concerned.